Entries tagged with “science fiction”.


I’ll be spending the weekend in Gaithersburg, MD at Capclave, and here is where you can find me (if you happen to be looking). I’ve gone to this convention for the last several years, but this is the first time I’m participating on programming officially.

I’ll also be happily waving around copies of In a Cat’s Eye edited by Vonnie Winslow Crist and Kelly A. Harmon, which contains my latest “A Familiar Story.”

FRIDAY, 7 October
5pm Suite 1209
UFO 5 & Humanity 2.0 Launch party
I’m the copyeditor on the UFO series, and I’m planning on hanging around the launch party. I hear they’ll be authentic bagels . . . .

7pm – Bethesda
Son of Steampunk
[Panelists: Doc Coleman, Elektra Hammond (mod), Elaine Stiles]
Steampunk genre caught on in ways nobody expected, spawning offspring genres (Dieselpunk, Atompunk, Clockpunk, etc.) achieve the same popularity? The panel will discuss these new subgenres, what defines them, and their staying power.

SATURDAY, 8 October
10am – Rockville/Potomac
The Martian and the Robinsonade
[Panelists: Michael Capobianco, Elektra Hammond, James Morrow, Michael D. Pederson (mod)]
What’s so intriguing and enduring about being stranded and alone? The panelists will discuss if there is room left in the reading market for variations on this theme.

11am – Frederick
The Portal Story
[Panelists: Martin Berman-Gorvine (mod), Elektra Hammond, Victoria Janssen, Sarah Pinsker]
The portal story, where the protagonist travels to another place, world, or universe, has a long history and is a mainstay in genre literature. Panelists will discuss the best and the worst tales, as well as portal stories that defy the trope yet still stays true to the sub-genre.

7:30 – Salon A
Mass Autographing session

8:30 – Salon A
WSFA Small Press Award Ceremony
Two of the stories in Cats in Space (the anthology I edited for Paper Golem) are nominated for the Award, as well as a number of the year’s other fine stories. I’ll be there cheering for the winner!

SUNDAY, 9 October
noon – Rockville/Potomac
Cats in Fantasy & Science Fiction
[Panelists: Elektra Hammond (mod), Kelly A. Harmon, Alex Shvartsman, Michelle D. Sonnier]
From CJ Cherryh’s Chanur series to Alex Shvartsman’s cat aliens who *almost* take over our planet, cats and cat-based alien species are here to stay. Why are they so popular?

I’m a part of this week’s Mind Meld at SF Signal–read about which genre author I think deserves more recognition. And about which authors Jamie Todd Rubin, Jonathan Laden, Mike Resnick, R. Leigh Hennig, Nick Mamatas, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Deborah Walker, Eric James Stone, Anna Yeatts, Alex Shvartsman, Lynne M. Thomas, and Marguerite Kenner deemed worthy of more appreciation.

Read all about it at:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/08/mind-meld-underappreciated-genre-authors/. And while you’re at it, check out SF Signal. It’s full of fun!